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STD Stories

News Story:

University Takes Action Against STDs

The University Health Center reported that sexually transmitted diseases have been on the rise on campus; this semester, there have been 50 cases of STDs reported. It went on to say that the number of cases could rise to over 100 by the end of the school year.

Ellen Jones, university's Health Service Director, says that the school is doing all it can to prevent the spread of more STDs by preparing to implement informational programs to educate the student population. This program would include the distribution of informational pamphlets, available movies for professors to show in class, and lectures in the dorms by health service personnel.

The program will seek to teach students about the dangers of sleeping around. Jones states, "It seems much easier to have sex with people than to talk about having sex. There are some students on this campus who didn't even know the name of their sexual partners."

The STDs that the report focused on were genital herpes, body lice, venereal diseases, and chlamydia, a bacteria which has no symptoms but can lead to sterilization in women if untreated.

Press Release:

University Preventing Spread of STDs

San Mosey's University Health Center is doing all it can to prevent sexually transmitted diseases on campus after a recent report surfaced that stated that the diseases were on the rise.

The Center has decided the best way to combat the rise of genital herpes, body lice, venereal diseases, and chlamydia is to create and implement a program wherein students would have the much needed information on prevention of these diseases. This program would include lectures given in dorms by health center personnel, informational pamphlets being passed out on campus, and educational movies to be shown in class at professor's discretion.

Ellen Jones, the University's Health Service Director, is at the forefront of this aggressive launch. Jones describes, "It seems much easier to have sex with people than to talk about having sex. There are some students on this campus who didn't even know the name of their sexual partners." This program would help students talk about the facts and know how to prevent more disease being spread.

There are currently 50 cases of STDs reported on campus for the year, with that number rising to 100 at the end of the year.

Copy Edit the World #3

Again, this Copy Edit the World comes from SJSU Alpha Phi's official website. And again, it is from the same section from our President. She says, "Alpha Phi allows collegiate women to dedicate themselves to an Organization that was founded on the ideals of service, scholarship, and sisterhood." First of all, the word "organization" should not be capitalized. Secondly, there should not be a comma after the word "scholarship."

Copy Edit the World #2

I am just finishing up my term as Alpha Phi's Vice President Marketing here at San Jose State. As VPM, I implemented the use of a website--something we never had before I took this position. I had our President write a little blurb about her experiences; however, now I see that there are a few mistakes in her section. She states, "Having been a member of this House for almost 4 years now, I have watched multiple women grow and mature because of the opportunities and privileges Alpha Phi has to offer." She should have spelled out the word "four" instead of use the number.

Copy Edit the World

Perez Hilton is notorious for causing mischief in the celebrity world--his blog reports on the latest "news" in Hollywood and beyond. He is one of my guilty pleasures as he makes so much fun of some of the most revered stars--he is never afraid to call it like it is, and his writing can be extremely witty. However, sometimes there is too much "news" to proofread every post he makes; thus, some mistakes can be found on his website. One of these mistakes comes from a story about the list of Barbara Walter's 10 Most Fascinating People for 2009 being released. It states, "In no particular order, they include Kate Gosselin, Sarah Palin, Adam Lambert, Brett Favre, Tyler Perry, and Lady Gaga." There does not ned to be a comma after Tyler Perry.

IMHO-Abortion

Imagine yourself as a teenager; you were surely reckless, selfish, immature, and greedy. You could barely keep track and take care of yourself—your hormones were all over the map, you were being pulled in a million different directions, and you could hardly deal with things that were thrown your way. Now imagine going through your teen years with a child: scary to ponder, right?

For too many teens today, this is an unhealthy reality. The Women’s Health Channel reports on its website, “Approximately one-third of young women in the United States become pregnant during their teens. More than 80% of teen pregnancies are unintended and unintentional” (Women’s Health Channel). Imagine if these pregnancies could be avoided; countless children (both being new parents and as newborns) would be saved. A teenager cannot provide a proper living situation for a newborn; teenagers are children themselves, and thus cannot take care of another child 24/7. This is one of the major reasons as to why a woman’s right to chose an abortion should continue to be a legal right—if the mother cannot properly provide an engaging and established environment for a child to grow up in, than a child is not being given a fair chance in the world.

In no way should abortion be a go-to solution for a woman once she learned she is pregnant; a decision like this is life-altering, and should be thought over relentlessly. It is not a quick fix for the situation, and it should not be used as a birth control method. Again, let me repeat: IT IS NOT A QUICK FIX FOR THE SITUATION! This is where people can become crazed over this topic; so many girls use it as a birth control method, that they become desensitized to it. Abortion should be looked at as serious and potentially life-changing result of a somber mistake.

Taking away a woman’s right to choose would be taking her civil rights away; it is her own body, and the government cannot control what she does with it. Once the government decides that they are able to take that decision away from a woman, what’s next? Many pro-life supporters fail to realize that abortion could possibly be in the unborn’s best interest; many are unable to properly care for a child, and abortion is the only option.

Memorial

Thousands of people were stripped of their belongings, taken from their homes, and forced into camps where they were fed little food and made to do hard labor for extensive hours; it was hell on earth given from one country of human beings to another race of human beings. Beginning in 1942, the American government decided to gather all citizens and aliens of the Japanese nationality and move them to camps along the west coast.

As a result of the Japanese bombings at Pearl Harbor in late 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066—a document that prevented people of Japanese decent from going within 50 miles of the west coast, and moved people to internment camps set up mostly in the west. These camps were horrific—little food was available to eat, medical attention was hard to find, and people were given the bare minimum. Psychologically, they were beaten up and forced to live in forsaken cities with little to no material goods. However, the government thought that they were doing the right thing—they rounded up all potential enemy threats and put them together so they could not communicate with outside sources. This, they thought, would prevent another bombing like Pearl Harbor and save countless American lives.

San Jose had a Japantown during the time of the interment camps—however, as expected, the town was empty as the Japanese cleared out to the camps across the nation. SJSU’s own Men’s Gymnasium was a place where people of Japanese decent could come register for the internment camps.

Ruth Asawa was one of the Japanese people who were put into a camp. As a teenager, she was relocated to a camp with her family where they were given virtually nothing and treated poorly. However, because of her experiences she was able to become a renowned artists, creating fountains, sculptures, and other art pieces around the world. Many of her works are on display in various areas of the bay area. One of these pieces is the Japanese American Internment Memorial Sculpture, which was created in 1994 and is made of bronze. This piece is local to San Jose—it can be found on 2^nd Street outside of the Federal Building.

This art piece depicts the hardships that the Japanese people had to go through—from immigration issues years ago to recent times, Asawa shows tough times and emotions. One of the most interesting scenes from this piece of art is about the Japanese in the military. It depicts a family in a tiny house getting the news that their child has been killed—the family members react sadly to the news. This piece is particularly striking—Asawa uses bas-relief and high relief to show depth and dimension in the story. The military man has no emotion as he reads the family a letter, but the three family members sitting in their kitchen are visibly upset—they look sullen and sad, and they don’t look at military man. In the internment camps, it became an option to escape by signing up for military jobs—thus, seeing a scene like this in an internment camp was not entirely bizarre.

Another amazing scene from this work shows a family burning their belongings. It looks like the men are burning all the family has—material objects, documents, etc. the woman behind them is distraught—her hands shield her face as she cannot bear to watch her belongings go up in flames. It was not uncommon to see families do this; it was a familiar occurrence as it was an easy way to get rid of objects that families could not physically carry with them to internment camps. A lot of important family information was lost because of this, but it was necessary, as they did not want anyone else to know their valuable information. This piece truly shows raw emotion, even though one of the characters is hiding her face—however, her hidden face portrays exactly how beside herself she was at the time.

I highly doubt that today’s society would let anything like this happen again today. Although there are issues of people’s freedom’s being taken advantage of now, I don’t think that the public would stand to let their government blatantly take hostage of so many people. America has learned from her mistakes, and nothing to this extent will happen again.

Word of the Week

1. Dadaab Refugee Camp

2. There was a story on cnn.com about a group trying to stop recruitment of refugees from this camp--I had no idea where it was or what was going on, so I decided to make this my "Word of the Week" so I could find out!

3. " A global human rights group is urging Kenya to stop Somali military recruiters from enlisting displaced men and boys in Kenya's sprawling Dadaab refugee camps to fight in their war against Islamic militants."

4. This camp is located in Kenya and is the biggest refugee camp in the world. Many people have fled here after continuous fighting in Somali.

5. The refugee camp at Dadaab is the largest in the world--many people are passionate to help the people in this area, as many are not getting the bare essentials to survive on.

IMHO-Gay Marriage

“Love: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person” (dcitonary.com). Love has many definitions; it can be felt for family members, friends, and is sometimes felt for significant others. However, over 40% of marriages in America end up in divorce—obviously, love and marriage are not easily maintained in marriages in today’s society (divorcerate.org), and its apparent that marriage is no longer sacred in our culture. However, marriages between two people of the same sex are banned, and they seem to be illegal for no other reasons besides religious ones. How is our society so concerned about the legality of others’ relationships when they cannot even hold their own together?

Same sex marriages are looked down upon mostly because of interpretations of certain passages in the Bible. “When God created a partner for Adam He created Eve - not another Adam” (christiananswers.net). However the Bible also states that we should not eat any shellfish; however, how many people take this literally and follow it? It is frustrating that only certain passages are construed so that others (like homosexuals) are affected. What about all the passages that state that we should “Love thy neighbor as thyself”? If we take these lessons on love and fairness, then gay marriage should not be an issue.

Conservatives seem to think that if gays are allowed to marry, than the traditional family would be compromised. However, the traditional family is slowly dismembering on its own—it’s becoming more and more common to have stay-at-home dads while the mother is the breadwinner, and some married couples are choosing to not have a family at all. Family dynamics are unique to each household, and every family are responsible for making it work for them. Gay couples are no different; their image looks different, but the love they have for their own children is the love any parent has for their child. Thus, why is the traditional family argument such a big one? Many straight couples cannot hold their own marriage together, let alone keep their children in a traditional family setting—who is to say that gay couples wouldn’t do the same?

Arguments against same sex marriage are outdated, antiquated, and, frankly put, are ridiculous. If two people truly love each other, no matter their sex, look, race, etc., than who are we as a society to tell them they cannot make their love legal and be married? It is neither right nor just for anyone else to tell you who you can or cannot be with.

Blog #7

ZZ Packer's Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is filled with a myriad of story-telling techniques. One of the main techniques used throughout the book is her descriptions--these descriptions are vivid and force the reader to visualize what is going on. A good example of this is when the author describes Mrs. Margolin, the leader of the Brownie group. She is described as looking like a mother duck with lively belts. These belts are recounted as looking "like the kind that weightlifters wear, except hers would be cheap metallic gold or rabbit fur or covered with gigantic fake sunflowers..." (2). Other descriptions of characters use intense and vibrant wording in order to fully convey their true selves.

Another technique that is used throughout the book is the use of metaphors and similes. Snot, the main character, once tells the reader that "If most of the girls in the troop could be any type of metal, they'd be bunched-up wads of tinfoil, maybe, or rusty iron nails you had to get tetanus shots for" (18). Even in the beginning of the book, the reader can determine that the Brownies are not necessarily the most moral little girls--Snot points this out by comparing the girls to scrap metal.

The quotes Packer uses also enhance story-telling. In one part of the book, the troop is singing a Girl Scout song about friends to show the irony in the situation; the girls are supposed to be good friends, but none of them seem to care too much about one another.

Word of the Week

1. exoticism

2. ZZ Packer's Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

3. "'Serious Chihuahua,' Octavia added, and though neither Arnetta nor Octavia could spell 'Chihuahua', had never seen a Chihuahua, trisyllabic words had gained a sort of exoticism within our fourth-grade set at Woodrow Wilson Elementary."

4. noun-

tendency to adopt what is exotic; exotic quality or character; anything exotic, as a foreign word or idiom

5. A lot of the animals at the zoo are exoticisms; they come from various areas around the globe, and have many interesting attributes that animals found in this area do not have.

AB656: The Proposition that will Change College

Alberto Torrico was on campus Monday for a meet-and-greet as well as to talk about Prop AB656, a proposition that would tax oil companies for drilling in California and give the money directly back to higher education. As the author of the proposition, he was able to take many students’ and faculty’s questions as well as talk about the bill.

The bill, which Torrico presented to the California legislature, would help the current budget crisis on California colleges, as was explained in the meet-and-greet. “It’s not fair that the state will spend more on prisons than the UC, CSU, and community college combined,” Torrico discussed to the congregation on Monday. “AB 656 creates new funding sources, and charges oil companies for oil. …100% goes to higher education.” He further went on to state that the oil companies would be charged 9.96% per barrel in order to gain more money for higher education.

Many student leaders support passing the bill, as their funding has been cut both in their education and in events. Tori Hofius, San Jose State’s Associated Student’s Director of Business Affairs supports the bill, stating, “This is a logical step in California’s economy. As one of the states that are suffering the most, it only makes sense to tax our biggest export and put that money to good use.” Hofius has personally seen budget cuts negatively affect her job as Director of Business Affairs in a number of ways. “After we realized the extent of the budget cuts, I created a board to review the services A.S. offers. This board will look at and decide whether or not certain events and services are cost effective and fiscally successful.”

AB 656 will take two-thirds of the legislative vote to pass; thus, Torrico is looking to students to help voice their concern. “This needs to be led by young people—a grassroots movement to change the way the state is run.” He passed out letters in which students could sign and send to the California Legislature to further show their support.

Torrico is visiting eight different CSU campuses this week to promote and gain support for the bill.

Reflection on Prop AB656

As I have never done an interview or even a real news story since my freshman year in high school, it was weird to get back into the swing of things. Asking people to answer my questions was difficult, and I wish we would have gotten more time to prepare; I felt like I went into the event without any warning. I had no idea what the prop even was about! If I had known before hand, I would have done research and come equipped with knowledgeable questions to ask important people.

Even with all of this thrown at me, I feel like my news story turned out well. I was able to talk to several different people, but I only used quotes from two or three sources. The information presented in my story was well-researched and thoughtful, despite feeling like I was thrown into this!

NPR Analysis

I chose to listen to NPR's All Things Considered radio show. The topic of the show was Health Care and how the lack of health insurance affects people who are out of a job. The show was called "Health Insurance Help for Laid Off Workers May End."

The reporter, Sarah Vandi, interviewed a woman who was directly affected by the lack of health insurance--her name was Nicole Pelton. Pelton discussed how federal subsidies for the COBRA program have helped her with health insurance for her family, and if the subsidies stop she doesn't know what she will do in regards to her insurance.

Vandi made the interview seem more like a conversation. One could tell she came prepared with proper and in-depth questions; Vandi was able to get Pelton to discuss the situation and show her true feelings about the situation. Pelton talked about her family frequently--she seemed to relate all of her problems to how her family has been affected. It was apparent that Vandi found she could get Pelton to talk by asking her questions pertaining to her children and husband--thus, Vandi was able to get amazing quotes to create her story. I assume it was easy to get Pelton to talk about something that was relevant and close to her heart; therefore, her family's situation made her open up.

It seems like once the interviewer finds a niche for the person being interviewed, the interviewee opens up and offers plenty of quality information to be used in a story. It is also interesting to see how a conversational interview can be used to one's advantage; making the interviewee comfortable works and helps the interview to go smoothly. Once the interviewee's trust is earned, more difficult questions can be asked.

Word of the Week

1. Canasta

2. Catcher in the Rye (I know, it's taking me forever to read through this again!)

3. "'It'll stop. Listen. Ya wanna play a little Canasta or don'tcha?'

'Canasta, for Chrissake. Do you even know what time it is, by any chance?'"

4. noun. a variety of rummy in which the main object is to meld sets of seven or more cards.

5. Canasta is a game we used to play when we got bored--the more players we had, the more fun the game became!

Guess who?

His dark Afro hair would wave rhythmically, held away from his face by a brightly colored bandana. His fingers would sprint up and down the guitar, playing each note passionately while he would wail sensually into his microphone, thus creating some of the best music of the 1960’s. He was a hippy at heart; his fringed jackets, bell-bottomed jeans, eccentric jewelry, and the guitar that was permanently at his side made him look like the true free spirit he was.

Word of the Week

1. falsetto

2. I'm re-reading The Catcher in the Rye, and it was in one of the very first chapters of the book.

3. "He started laughing in this very high falsetto voice."

4. falsetto; n. an unnaturally or artificially high-pitched voice or register, esp. in a man

5. His falsetto voice made him seem like a fraud.

Word of the Week #4

1. DRUBBING

2. Located in the Sports section of the Spartan Daily on Monday, September 21. The article was about the Stanford/SJSU football game last Saturday--the word was located in the headline.

3. "Spartans take drubbing from rival Cardinal"

4. Drubbing: noun. 1. a beating; a sound thrashing

2. a decisive, humiliating defeat, as in a game or contest

5. I would have loved to see the Chargers give a drubbing to the Dolphins last night, but a win is a win even if the game was a close one!

A Fly on the Wall of Penguin FroYo

Frozen yogurt (or "froyo," if you're a frozen yogurt addict) is quite possibly the most delicious food to be given to the human race--especially an amazing cup of tart yogurt with fruity pebbles and strawberries from Penguin FroYo.

The exposed brick walls and over-sized maroon chair coupled with the modern lighting made the store seem contemporary and homey at the same time. Tables and chairs line the brick walls--seating is ample. The store had some sort of children's entertainment playing in the background, most likely to bring nostalgic memories back.

The ambient noise of the movie is complimented by the sugary smell of ice cream, warm cones, and frozen yogurt. Every now and then, a sweet crepe would be made by one of the employees; the warm sugar scent would loft around the brick walls, circle its way around the room, and settle into my nose, once again resurrecting my hunger pains for more sweets.

Many students came in to eat; they would walk in with some sort of San Jose State apparel, order frozen yogurt, and eat in one of the many large cozy chairs. Those who had been there before seemed comfortable and knew exactly what to do; one customer knew his order by heart and perched himself in a chair. His legs were sprawled everywhere, as if he was sitting in a LazyBoy at his parents' house--once he was done, he tossed his cup in the trash can casually, said his thank-you's, and left.

Comparing Media

The story I chose to cover was about the arrest of Raymond Clark, a Yale University lab technician, who was charged with murder of Annie Le, a graduate student from Yale. Le was last seen alive September 8, and her body was found last week stuffed in the walls of a research building both she and Clark worked at.

The story was printed in the Wall Street Journal on Friday September 18th, and it took up about a third of the page. There was one black and white picture to the left that took up about half of the story's layout--it was a shot of Clark walking in handcuffs with police surrounding him. Within the story, there were six different people who were quoted. There was also a statistic about workplace homicide in the United States. The newspaper story gave all the direct facts, but only had a single picture to see what Clark looks like.

The TV story I found was from the Associated Press, and was 1 minutes 16 seconds long. There were shots of Clark in the courtroom being charged, of Chief James Lewis of the New Haven Police speaking about the situation,and 2 different students discussing the arrest. The TV story seemed like there was less information; thus, I felt the story was not covered as well. I believe the newspaper did the best job of covering this story, even though the TV story had an impact because of the visuals.

Cnn.com had the same story online. The article was about 850 words or so, and there were four different people that offered quotes. The web story contained the same basic information--Clark was arrested at a Super 8, he was charged with murder of Annie Le, and his bail is set at $3 million. A few of the quotes were from the same people in the TV and newspaper stories as well. The online story seemed rushed and not as thought out--I liked this story the least in comparison to the others.

Library Scavenger Hunt

Alex White

MCOM 100W

September 14, 2009

1. The type of organizational system that San Jose State’s Martin Luther King Library uses is the Dewey Decimal system. This system separates books into different categories, subcategories, etc. The books then have a different call number; this way, it makes it extremely easy to find different books without having to search for hours. One can look up the call number and immediately know physically where in the library the book is located.
2. The browsing library on the first floor has many different copies of popular items. This includes popular books (fiction and nonfiction), movies, CDs, audio books, etc.
3. There are several types of electronic databases available in San Jose State’s Martin Luther King Library. There are subscription databases, e-books, and many others.
4. There are two different ways to access MLK Library’s database. The first is to physically get onto a computer within the library—the computers located in the library are allowed access to databases. However, the only way to access the databases at home is to be a SJSU student with an ID number and password.
5. There is a countless array of different newspapers in the Martin Luther King Library on campus. Some of them are The San Jose Mercury News, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The Oakland Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, The Sacramento Bee, The San Francisco Examiner, The Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The London Post, and The Denver Post. These are just some of the few that the library holds; there is a ton more located within the library itself.
6. I found a DVD on advertising—its call number was XD1351, and it was titled “Advertising and the End of the World.” A video I found on advertising was entitled “A Closer Look at Advertising” and its call number was XS2399. I found a Mozart CD, “Essential Mozart” (obviously by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!), under CD Classic Mozart.
7. I found a reference book on Internet advertising and ways to improve and draw more attention to advertisements online. Its call number is HF6146.I58 A38 2007. The book was titled Internet Advertising: Theory and Research.
8. I found a book in Spanish entitled, Salimos o nos quedamos II : las mejores mesas, sus mejores recetas. Its call number was SPA 641.5972 Salimos. The DVD I found was “La Otra Conquista,” and it’s call number was XD1248. The CD I found was Selena’s “Siempre Selena” and it’s call number is SPA CD POP SELENA.
9. The library has a ton of different types of magazines. Some of them are Times, Forbes, Business Week, The Economist, and Consumer Reports.
10. I found an article on John Steinbeck entitled “Consillence and Ecological Vision in the Works of John Steinbeck” by Kathleen Margaret Hicks. Its call number is PS3537.T3234 Z7143x 2003.
11. One book about John Steinbeck is by Harold Bloom, and it’s called John Steinbeck. Its call number is PS3537.T3234 Z71546 2008.
12. One of the books found in the California Room about farm labor is Mary Bowden Carrol’s Ten Years in Paradise. Its call number is 917.94.
13. The California Room has a lot of different books in it about the history of California. A lot of the ones I found interesting were about San Jose and it’s history. One of them was San Jose: California’s First History by Edward Beilharz. Its call number is 979.473.
14. A book on minorities in California is Women and minorities in California public postsecondary education: their employment, classification, and compensation, 1975-1985. It’s authorless, but its call number is LB2331.73.C2 W65x 1987.
15. There are three different types of collections in the Cultural Heritage Collection. They are Africana, Asian American, and Chicano. These collections help to promote learning and appreciation for other cultures.
16. In the Center for Beethoven Studies, one can find materials about Beethoven’s life, works, and accomplishments.
17. Someone who is well versed in the subject, and knows what he or she is talking about normally writes a scholarly article. These articles are clearly written, and have a predetermined structure. They are also geared towards readers who are interested in the subject. Popular magazine articles are written for the general public, and are written for informational purposes. This means that the vocabulary in a magazine article will be more general instead of specialized like a scholarly article would be.
18. Advertising and Selling, Advertising Age, The Public Relations Journal, Public Relations Quarterly, and Journalism Abstracts are some of the many different mass communications journals found in the library.
19. There are 34 different art installations in the library.

Favorite Reading

I used to love to read when I was little. My favorite books were Dr. Suess books, especially The Lorax. This book was not only fun to read as a child, but it taught a lot of values that I still uphold today. The Lorax is about this furry little creature that lives in a beautiful forest area. He shares his home with many other types of flora and fauna. One day, someone comes and takes advantage of the environment and begins to take advantage of the forest to make a profit. The Lorax speaks up and tries to save the land numerous times; he does everything in his power to make the company realize that they are ruining the land, but he fails at it. The Lorax ends up leaving with the rest of his animal friends because the land is so ravaged. However, at the end of the book, a child is given the last tree seed in existence and is told that he can rebuild and make life possible again.

Some of my favorite quotes are from this book--the Lorax himself is a small creature (he stands on tree stumps and is still a lot smaller than those he's speaking to), but he has a huge opinion and an even bigger heart. It is silly to say, but I have always idolized him; I'm short as well, but if the Lorax can stand up for what he believed in, I can have the courage to do the same. One of my favorite quotes is "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." This is still very much true today for me; I have always lived my life by these words. If you want something done, you have to get it done yourself, you can't rely on other people to do it.

All About Me

Hi! My name is Alex, and I'm from sunny San Diego. I'm a typical San Diegan girl; you can always find me near water (the beach, a lake, or my pool) or out in the sun. The beach is my second home--you can find me out in the sand throwing a football around, swimming in the ocean, snorkeling or scuba diving, or just reading a good book while soaking up the sun. I worship the sun, so San Diego is the perfect place for me to live--it's almost always summer weather!

I absolutely love to cook, and I'm almost always behind my barbeque when it's my turn to cook. Vegetables, fish, chicken, carne asada, you name it--it's most likely been on my barbeque before. I don't know how I would eat without my BBQ!

My major is advertising, and I've known since I was 16 what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I'm driven and passionate, and I consider myself really lucky for everything I have. My friends and family mean the world to me, and without them I would not be here! Because of the love and support they give me, I get very protective of them. I may be a teeny tiny girl, but I don't mess around when it comes to those around me!